During the course, you will learn more about different types of dining. For example –

If you are considering starting your own catering business, it is a good idea to initially focus on small scale private events e.g. for friends and family. This will allow you to practice newly acquired culinary skills and gain confidence of cooking for others before you invest in your catering business and start to cater for larger functions such as weddings or business events. 

BUFFET STYLE DINING

Serving foods in a buffet style of dining will allow you to provide a wide range of dishes and hopefully doing this will allow you to serve something that will appeal to all guests who will be able to choose exactly what they want.

Buffet dining tips
Although buffet style dining is generally easier to cater for than a full sit down menu, it may still be hard initially to decide on foods to include and also on how foods are to be presented.  Here are a few tips and recipes to help you execute the best buffet style experience.
Consider your room arrangement. The right room set-up is key to making your buffet table a success. Where space permits try to place your buffet table on the middle of a room so that guests are able to access the table from both sides and queues are kept to a minimum.
Consider how food/ plates/ utensils are to be placed on the buffet table. One good way of arranging the buffet table is to have plates on one end followed by main dishes and then vegetables and side salads with napkins and cutlery at the other side. This arrangement means that guests will be able to serve foods as they pass down the buffet table without requiring a spare hand to carry a napkin, knife and folk. 
Choose buffet foods wisely, generally foods which will require cutting/ slicing will be less popular at a buffet meal as this will require a spare hand/ fat surface. Chosen foods should also provide a good range of colour and textures.
Beware of potential food poisoning/ contamination by keeping a careful eye on temperature. In general buffet food should not be left out for longer than 2 hours while in warmer climates the time where food may be safely left out will decrease to about 1 hour due to the possible food poisoning risk.

Buffet food 
There are four main types of Buffet - finger buffets, folk buffets, hot and cold buffets. Your food choices will need to reflect which type of buffet you are hosting. For example, sliced meats will not work well at a folk buffet as people will find it extremely hard to eat with only a folk. In general the foods you provide at each type of buffet are likely to include a mixture of sweet and savoury options. For example, savoury choices can include cheese and biscuits, mini pizzas, chicken nuggets, mini pastries, Thai fish cakes, onion bhajis, falafels and vol-au-vents (see lesson 6). Sweet choices will also vary; most sweet foods can be included although very heavy puddings may be unsuitable. Some common buffet puddings include gateaux’s, trifles, fairy cakes/buns, fresh fruit salad and fruit crumbles.
Sit down meals
Seated meals may be more suitable to smaller parties or those where space is not a limitation, while a seated meal plan may be a preferred option for some guests as it allows them to be seated and relaxed before food is served eliminating the need to join a food queue or having to stand with a plate and glass. Seated meals are also a good opportunity to show off your skills in presenting foods as well as in creating an attractive table setting.  
How many courses?
Once you have decided to offer a sit-down dining experience it is necessary to decide on the number of courses you plan to serve. The number of courses you wish to serve at your party/ event will take account of many of the factors previously described e.g. time, budget, experience. As a guide a multi-course meal usually begins with an entrée or light meal (or several small offerings), followed by a main course which makes up the central part of the meal and is of a larger portion size. A salad or vegetable course may be served with the main meal as is the custom in countries such as Great Britain, Australia and the United States, or alternatively salads and vegetables may be offered as a separate course entirely. Meals generally culminate with a dessert which may be served hot or cold and perhaps a cheese selection and dessert wine. In this part of the lesson we shall look at each of these courses in turn and suggest a few recipe ideas that you may like to consider. 

What Are the Advantages of Studying with ACS Distance Education?

• You can start at any time to suit you.
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• You can study when and where suits you. They are flexible to fit in around you and your lifestyle.
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• It is not just a course, it is a package of learning that includes – course notes, tutor feedback, self-assessment tests, research tasks and assignments.
• Our tutors are all experts in their field, with years of experience in their field.
• They are also keen and enthusiastic about their subject and enjoy working with students to improve their knowledge and skills.
• Courses are also updated regularly to meet the demands of the changing needs for knowledge and to keep our courses up to date.

What Next?

If you want to start your own business, improve your CV or get started in the food and beverage industry, this advanced qualification will definitely give you a step up. 

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